ABU DHABI ø Al Qaida has succeeded in fighting its way into the U.S.
consulate in Saudi Arabia and holding the facility for several hours.
Saudi security sources said five Al Qaida operatives, employing a car
bomb and grenades, blasted their way into the U.S. consulate in Jedda on
Monday and held the facility for about two hours. The sources said Al Qaida
insurgents killed at least four Saudi National Guard officers and injured a
U.S. staffer before Saudi commandos stormed the consulate and killed most of
the attackers. A U.S. official later denied that any Americans were injured.
"I can confirm there has been an attack on the U.S. consulate in Jedda,"
U.S. embassy spokeswoman Carole Kalin said.
At one point, Al Qaida was believed to have held up to 18 hostages
inside the U.S. consulate. Within an hour of the attack, about 200 Saudi
troops, backed by attack helicopters, surrounded the building and then
stormed the consulate.
The sources said the incident began when a car bomb blew up outside the
consulate gates, killing the Saudi guards on duty. Al Qaida gunmen rushed
the consulate, overpowered the U.S. Marine detail and took over a portion of
the building.
Three Al Qaida attackers were killed in the subsequent gunbattle with
Saudi security forces, the Saudi sources said. Another two Islamic
insurgents were said to have been captured.
This was the first time Al Qaida succeeded in capturing a U.S.
diplomatic facility in Saudi Arabia. For months, U.S. officials warned that
Al Qaida was planning a major attack on a Western diplomatic facility in
Jedda, a port city with the largest Western expatriate community.
The United States has closed all of its diplomatic facilities in Saudi
Arabia, a U.S. official said. The official said this included the U.S.
embassy in Riyad and consulate in Dhahran.
"We are still trying to gather information," Ms. Kalin said.
